United Kingdom
United Kingdom has more Lithuania-born people than any other country in the world, besides Lithuania itself – some 180 000 in total. In the number of people who consider themselves to be Lithuanian, the United Kingdom may be second only to the USA, however, unlike the Lithuanians of Great Britain who are mostly immigrants, the Lithuaian-Americans have mostly been born in the USA.
That said, the Lithuanian migration to the United Kingdom is much older than the current “third” wave, and the old waves of Lithuanians have left significant heritage sites.
Pre-WW1 Lithuanian heritage in Britain (first wave)
The First Wave of Lithuanians arrived in Great Britain before World War 1. Some 7000 of them settled in southern Scotland working in coal mines around Belshill, 2000 in London
One of the few surviving tenements in Glasgow where First-Wave Lithuanians lived
This migration was part of a large trend of Lithuanian migration to the USA at the time when Lithuanians were leaving their Russian-ruled homeland where economic opportunities were few and discrimination (including Lithuanian language ban) rampant.
While the USA was the coveted goal for nearly all Lithuanian emigrants, some of them lacked money or were cheated, leading to them ending up in the UK. Britain thus became the second-largest Lithuanian community in the Western world by 1913, second only to the USA. The difference in numbers was huge, however: while the USA attracted more than 300,000 Lithuanians, the UK had just some 10,000 and their salaries were smaller, making the building of Lithuanian churches or clubs like those in America difficult.
Still, London Lithuanians managed to build their St. Casimir Lithuanian Church in the East End back in 1913. Still in operation, this is the oldest Lithuanian heritage site in Great Britain, as well as the only one dating to the First Wave of Lithuanian immigrants.
St. Casimir Lithuanian Church in London
In 1917, the first-wave Lithuanian communities in Britain were heavily hit by a British government request to either serve in the British army in World War 1 or go back to the Russian Empire to serve in the Russian army. Many were deported, to be followed by their families in 1920, and never allowed back. The remaining Lithuanians assimilated rather quickly, with few first-wave Lithuanian descendants participating in Lithuanian activities by the later 20th century (when these activities were dominated by the Second Wave).
A monument in London for Lithuanians who died serving the British military in the World War 2
1950s-1970s Lithuanian heritage in Britain (second wave DPs)
Most of the Lithuanian heritage sites in Great Britain were built by the Second Wave of Lithuanians in Britain. Known as DPs (Displaced Persons), these people had extremely similar life stories:
1. They saw the horrors of the first Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940-1941 when they suffered persecution and maybe narrowly avoided exile or death.
2. When the Soviet armies were approaching Lithuania again in 1944, they thus fled, spending a few years in the DP camps in Germany, Denmark, Austria, and elsewhere after the World War 2 ended.
3. With no possibilities to return them to their Soviet-occupied homeland where they would likely killed or imprisoned, Western allied nations spread them among themselves ~1948-1951. The United Kingdom offered multiple programs for the DPs to settle there in return for mandatory labor. For example, the Baltic Cygnet program invited 1000 women to work as nurses for a year, Westward Ho aimed to import up to 100,000 workers, among them DPs (not just Lithuanians).
4. After mandatory work, the DPs were free to settle anywhere in Great Britain ~early 1950s. Typically, they sought to stay among other Lithuanians so they could have Lithuanian activities within the pieces of Lithuania they would create and campaign for Lithuanian freedom.
A plaque installed in Bradford Cathedral by the DPs from various countries campaigning against the Soviet rule there
In total, some 3000 DP Lithuanians settled down in Great Britain, with some estimates giving the number of 5749 but this number includes those who soon left for the USA, Australia, and other countries, staying in Britain only a short time. They were also joined by 250 Lithuanian war veterans who served in the Polish forces, something still controversial at the time when the memories of the Lithuanian-Polish conflict were still fresh.
The main Lithuanian DP hubs of Great Britain developed in the Glasgow area, Manchester, London, Bradford, Nottingham
In each of their main cities, DPs established their pieces of Lithuania.
In Manchester, Bradford, London, and Belshill (near Glasgow) they opened Lithuanian Clubs ~1950. In Nottingham, a Lithuanian chapel that doubles as a club opened in the 1960s, while another large Lithuanian club “Sodyba” operated in Headley countryside, mostly for London Lithuanians. Lithuanian clubs typically included Lithuanian bars, canteens, dance groups, choirs, and Saturday schools where the DP kids would be taught Lithuanian after the regular school week.
Lithuanian Center "Židinys" in Nottingham
Moreover, Lithuanian DPs have established three Lithuanian cemetery zones so they could buried together, usually under gravestones with inscriptions about their beloved homeland Lithuania, and Lithuanian symbols. These cemetery zones exist in London, Manchester, and Nottingham, the first two also having multiple Lithuanian monuments built there. Even where there was no separate Lithuanian zone, Lithuanians often tried to be buried in the same cemeteries, leading to high concentrations of Lithuanian graves there.
Lithuanian Cemetery Zone monument in Manchester
Another Lithuanian monument complex was built in Carfin near Belshill (Scotland), the only one in Britain located outside a cemetery.
Lithuanian monuments at the Carfin Grotto in Scotland
While the monuments and cemetery zones still survive, the clubs generally folded ~2000 (except Belshill and Nottingham). Unlike in America or Australia, the children generation of Lithuanian DPs in Britain quickly drifted away from their roots, often because of discrimination. Most of them did not want to learn the Lithuanian language or participate in the activities. This group sold the inherited Lithuanian clubs after their parents’ generation passed away, sometimes garnering quite a controversy and court battles. In the closed Lithuanian clubs, nothing reminds the Lithuanian history today. While the buildings often still stand, they were not Lithuanian-built and thus not Lithuanian in architecture, while any Lithuanian decor was removed by the new owners.
The former Lithuanian House in London
Another reason for the decline of the DP community in Britain was rapid emigration to the USA and Australia, where there were higher salaries, less discrimination, and a larger distance from the dangers of Soviet expansion. The USA and Australia also established schemes to make such migration easier. So many Lithuanians migrated from Britain to the USA that there were two clubs of “Lithuanians from Britain” in Chicago in the 1970s.
A book of the now-closed Bradford Lithuanian Club
Modern-day Lithuanian migration to Britain (the Third Wave)
Soviet occupation of Lithuania meant that in the years 1944-1990 emigration from Lithuania was next to impossible. When Lithuania became independent in 1990, however, Lithuanians began emigrating again. While their country was free from occupation and discrimination, decades of Soviet rule had completely ravaged its economy. The United Kingdom became a popular choice for emigration, often illegal.
However, this third wave of emigration from Lithuania reached epic proportions only after 2004, when Lithuania joined the European Union. With the United Kingdom also within the EU at the time, any Lithuanian could have legally migrated to the UK at any time without any reason or bureaucratic hurdles by the late 2000s.
United Kingdom’s Lithuanian community swelled to 180,000, almost half of them in the London area. However, every key city in the UK has a significant Lithuanian community and often a Lithuanian shop or restaurant. Several cities have especially major Lithuanian presence, such as Peterborough or Boston.
A Lithuanian restaurant in Peterborough
That said, there remained an invisible divide between the third wave of immigrants and the second wave. The second wave often saw third wavers as trouble-makers and all-too-often criminals, who just wanted to receive charity from the second wave without volunteering for the second-wave Lithuanian institutions (which, in their view, made transferring such institutions to the third wave impossible). Third wavers, meanwhile, often saw second wavers (at least their born-in-Britain generation) as not so much Lithuanians at all anymore, speaking little Lithuanian and all too willing to sell the Lithuanian clubs their parents built (instead of allowing the third-wavers continue their Lithuanian tradition).
It was not simply "third wave vs. second wave", as some of the second-wave DP descendants sought to save the clubs, however, they were often outnumbered by their peers who preferred selling the clubs, and, in the end, Scotland's Lithuanian Club was the only one that was saved from attempted closure through litigation. Likewise, only some of the third-wavers participated in or wanted to save the Lithuanian organizations, with others not being interested.
All this led to a strange situation whereby while the United Kingdom's Lithuanian population grew to unprecedented proportions increasing some 2000% in the 1990s-2010s, the number of Lithuanian clubs that own their buildings has rapidly dwindled in this same era.
Now-shuttered Lithuanian Sodyba at Headley
The only institutions that were taken over by the third wave were religious ones, including London’s Lithuanian church and Nottingham’s “Židinys”. Third Wave also established a unique Pentecostal Lithuanian church in London. The third wave would also care for the second-wave cemeteries. The only new monument built by the third wave, though, is Perkūnas the Pole of Folkestone, although its true builders are not known. A commemorative plaque was also unveiled in Peterborough and a tree was planted in Leeds.
The Third wave community of the St. Casimir Lithuanian Parish in London
Only a minority of third wave Lithuanians participate in any Lithuanian activities but those who do do so in rented premises, where the Lithuanian Saturday schools operate, continuing the tradition of teaching the kids their language and culture in weekends.
A second-wave Lithuanian grave in Bradford with a Lithuanian tricolor put around it by the third-wave caretakers
With Brexit, Lithuanian immigration to Great Britain somewhat declined. While some have returned to Lithuania after Lithuania became richer, most have stayed in Great Britain. Yet the largest part of current Lithuanian in Britain have immigrated ~2004-2012.
Lithuanian Saturday School operating in rented premises in Peterborough
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London, England
London is often called the “3rd city of Lithuania” as, supposedly, there are more Lithuanians in London than in any other city save for Vilnius and Kaunas. While the exact numbers may be up for discussion, London certainly has more Lithuanian-born people than any other city outside Lithuania, up to 80,000 in total.
While most of London’s Lithuanians are recent immigrants, London has a deeper Lithuanian history than any other major city in Western Europe. Before World War 1 already, Lithuanians built their church in London, to be followed by numerous Lithuanian clubs established soon after World War 2.
St. Casimir Lithuanian Chuch in London (1913)
St. Casimir Lithuanian Church
St. Casimir Lithuanian Church of London is the only Lithuanian church in Western Europe. It was built in 1913. At that time, London had the second-largest community of Lithuanians in Western Europe, second only to the Glasgow mining area in Scotland. Some 2000 Lithuanians lived there, mostly in the blue-collar East End, where they built their St. Casimir Church.
Interior of the St. Casimir Lithuanian Church
Being a small community of Lithuanians compared to the massive Lithuanian-American districts of the time, the church they built is comparatively small, currently dwarfed by massive new buildings surrounding it. Yet, it has survived well over a century, always offering Lithuanian mass, with new immigrants always replacing the past generations of London Lithuanians after these assimilate and move away. Few Lithuanians now live around the church but they come from all over London.
St. Casimir Lithuanian Church, now surrounded by large new buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood
While the church interior is not Lithuanian in style, it has numerous ethnic motifs, including a mural of Rūpintojėlis in a chapel-post, another Rūpintojėlis on the altar table, Lithuanian-language stations of the cross, a sculpture of St. Casimir, a commemorative plaque to a diplomat and patriot John Michael Liudžius, and a commemorative plaque to priest Juozapas Montvila, who sadly sunk with “Titanic” while being relocated to a Lithuanian-American church in Worcester, Massachusetts. In Lithuanian, the plaque says “Born in 1885 and having left for America from this church, he sunk in the Atlantic with the ship “Titanic” on 1912 04 15, performing his priestly duties to the end”.
Rūpintojėlis on the altar
Rūpintojėlis mural
Next to the main church hall, there is a café where Lithuanians meet after Mass. There, paintings show the key personalities of the church's history, including Montvila and other priests. This extension of the original church building was erected in 1974.
Lithuanian cafe within the church
Originally, Lithuanians began their Catholic activities in London as early as the late 19th century, when, in 1896, they acquired a church building together with Poles. However, at the time, Lithuanians were undergoing a sweeping national revival, and the status quo of Polish being the “language of science, books, and faith” in Lithuania gave way to the widespread use of native Lithuanian, something that antagonized the Poles. This led to the “divorce” of the parish, with the Lithuanian St. Casimir Society moving to a German church, then using a warehouse for a church since 1902 before building the current one.
Priest Montvila plaque in the church
St. Casimir statue
Being the only Lithuanian parish in the United Kingdom, St. Casimir parish serves Lithuanians all over the country. One of its priests goes to different Lithuanian-heavy cities every weekend, celebrating monthly Lithuanian-language masses in various non-Lithuanian churches there. That said, after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, the religiosity of Lithuanians have declined, and so only a small minority of some 150,000 post-Soviet Lithuanian immigrants the United Kingdom regularly participate in the religious services. Therefore, the initial plans to expand the St. Casimir Lithuanian Church ~2010 (after the largest chunk of Lithuanians immigrated to the UK due to Lithuania joining the European Union) were cancelled. These plans included building a second hall in the basement where the mass would be broadcast.
The parishioners of the St. Casimir Lithuanian Parish in London
Lithuanian Houses of London and the DP community
London also had several Lithuanian clubs and halls, all of which have been closed.
Lithuanian Sports and Social Club opened in 1947, in a building that had previously served as a parish hall for a non-Lithuanian parish of St. Margaret which lost its church during the London blitz (World War 2). It is located 1,5 miles from the St. Casimir Lithuanian church, whose community previously sought additional premises for secular activities. While now it is a house, the plaque “LITH HALL” Survives.
The LITH HALL in East London
The main Lithuanian hall of London was, however, the massive Lithuanian House that operated from the 1950s until 1996. It owned a large 5-floored terraced house in the prestigious Notting Hill neighborhood (1-2 Ladbroke Gardens).
Unlike the St. Casimir parish, the Lithuanian House was established by very different Lithuanians: so-called DPs. This group of Lithuanians had to flee the Soviet Genocide during World War 2 in 1944 and could not return to Lithuania as it remained Soviet-occupied. Seeing themselves as exiles, they put enormous work into creating pieces of Lithuania abroad, continuing the Lithuanian culture and campaigning for its freedom. Moreover, many of them were intellectuals rather than blue-collar workers, giving rise to various endevours. While some 3000 Lithuanian DPs ended up in the United Kingdom, London was not their main center of settlement, likely surpassed or equaled by Bradford, Manchester, Nottingham, and Glasgow area. That said, London being the capital, it was important for the Lithuanian DPs to have their presence here, and so even though the Lithuanian House often struggled economically, it survived until the independence of Lithuania.
The former Lithuanian House in Notting Hill (two final homes on the terrace on the left of this picture)
In addition to housing a bar, canteen, Lithuanian library, and ethnic activities such as Lithuanian folk dances, Lithuanian House also served as the center of Britain’s Lithuanian community and the other key Lithuanian institutions that encompassed the whole of Great Britain. Since 1961, a Lithuanian publishing house operated here, and in 1991, when Lithuania’s freedom became achievable once again, a Lithuanian information center was established within the Lithuanian House.
While the Notting Hill Lithuanian House is the building usually thought about when mentioning this name, there were two other Lithuanian Houses. Before acquiring the main House, since 1950, Lithuanians had a smaller Lithuanian House at 43 Holland Park. That building was sold and replaced when it became too small. On the other hand, the Notting Hill building itself was sold in 1996 and replaced by a smaller and cheaper building at 17 Freeland Rd. That building was, however, later sold as well, leaving London without a secular Lithuanian Hall for the first time since the 1950s.
The first Lithuanian House of London
Like elsewhere in Great Britain, there was an unusually swift decline of the Lithuanian DP community, with very few Britain-born Lithuanian children continuing the Lithuanian activities, leading to Lithuanian Hall effectively serving just a single generation. This decline is typically attributed by the DP Lithuanians themselves to anti-immigrant discrimination of the 1960s-1980s Britain, which made their children drift away from the culture of their parents, wishing to rapidly assimilate, as well as mass re-emigration of Lithuanians from Great Britain to the richer and farther-from-the-Soviets USA (by some estimates, more than half of London DPs eventually migrated to the USA or Australia).
The final Lithuanian House of London
The sale of the London Lithuanian House coincided with the arrival of tens of thousands of new immigrants to the London area. This garnered controversy, with different groups of London Lithuanians blaming each other for the decline of the House. That controversy was even more pronounced in the case of Headley Park “Sodyba”, described below.
Headley Park “Sodyba”
Likely the most famous Lithuanian institution in Great Britain, Headley Park “Sodyba” (Lithuanian for “Homestead”) was a vast area of Lithuanian-owned countryside near Headley. It included a Lithuanian museum, Lithuanian club, and Lithuanian memorials, such as the chapel-post now located in St. Patrick Cemetery.
Sodyba was opened in 1955 by the Lithuanian DPs. It served as a vacation zone as well as a retirement zone for London Lithuanians (this senior housing was rebuilt in 1964-1965). Open-air ethnic activities like Lithuanian scout camps also took place here, as well as general pastimes such as fishing or shooting. “Sodyba” also served as a regular hotel, enjoyed by the other ethnic communities of London as well, for example, in 1963, only some 30% of summer guests were Lithuanians.
Sodyba from a drone
Sodyba’s Pentecost would be the main event of the year for London area Lithuanians, with 500 participating in the Pentecost of 1961.
In 1973, a swimming pool was opened.
Unlike many other DP-era Lithuanian sites of Great Britain, Sodyba also became loved by the 1990s and 2000s-era Lithuanian immigrants who participated in Pentecost and other festivities there.
Sodyba building from a nearby road
Controversially, Sodyba closed down and was sold in 2015, events that still create reverberations in Britain’s Lithuanian community. Recent immigrants often blame the children of Sodyba’s founders, who, being uninterested in Lithuanian activities, "decided to sell Sodyba for personal gain"; meanwhile, these children of DPs often blame the recent immigrants, whose transgressions in Sodyba had led to Sodyba losing the license to sell alcohol.
That said, the ownership of Sodyba always was up for discussion, with the sale suggested numerous times before the 2010s, when southern Europe outcompeted Britain’s countryside as a vacation destination.
After the sale, Sodyba remained abandoned with various Lithuanian signs remaining intact for about a decade while various court cases progressed, with a rebuilding beginning in 2024.
Surviving Lithuanian signs on the shuttered Sodyba entrance in 2024
London Lithuanian Cemetery zone
DP Lithuanians often sought to be buried together. While their numbers were too small to open their entire cemetery anywhere in Great Britain, there were enough of them to acquire a separate zone within London’s Saint Patrick Cemetery.
Lithuanian zone in London's St. Patrick Cemetery
This Lithuanian Cemetery Zone also serves as an area for Lithuanian monuments. Here, the chapel-post of Headley Park was relocated from the “Sodyba” after it was closed. When it was created, this chapel-post was criticized by some, as it doesn’t follow the traditional Lithuanian convention completely. Instead of a crucified Christ, the chapel-post includes Rūpintojėlis, a traditional Lithuanian figure of worried Christ. Like many DP monuments, the chapel-post essentially doubles as a monument to lost Lithuania with many Lithuanian details all over it, such as the Cross of Vytis and columns of Gediminas symbols (when similar traditional monuments are built within Lithuania itself, they typically have much fewer symbols of Lithuania).
A fragment of Headley Park Sodyba chapel-post
Another monument here is erected for Lithuanians who died in World War 2 serving the British armed forces. 14 names are inscribed here together with Lithuanian words “Jų kova ir pasiaukojimas vardan laisvės niekada nebus pamiršti” (“Their fight and determination for freedom will never be forgotten”) and a somewhat different quote in English. While commemorating Lithuanians who served Britain, the monument includes the traditional Lithuanian Columns of Gediminas patriotic symbol.
A monument in London for Lithuanians who died serving the British military in the World War 2
While many Lithuanians are buried under similar regular crosses, one of the unique gravestones is dedicated to Bronius Kazys Balutis, Lithuania’s representative to the UK from 1934 to 1967. His gravestone is inscribed with Vytis and his famous words “Oi skambink per amžius vaikams Lietuvos, kad laisvės nevertas, kas negina jos” (“Ring through ages for the children of Lithuania that he who doesn’t defend freedom isn’t worth it”) – these famous words were inscribed on 500 Litas banknote. The gravestone was designed by a famous Lithuanian DP sculptor from France Antanas Mončys.
Bronius Kazys Balutis grave
As the UK never recognized the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, the diplomatic ties continued, yet the Lithuanian representatives were sometimes ridiculed by the press as “envoys of the country that does not exist”. After his death in 1967, Bronius Kazys Balutis was replaced by Vincas Balickas, now buried nearby. Interestingly, Vincas Balickas started working in the Lithuanian embassy of Great Britain while Lithuania was still independent (1938) and he was one of the very few such diplomats to still be alive when Lithuania restored its independence in 1990. At 87 years of age, he was appointed (essentially confirmed) the ambassador of free Lithuania to Britain in 1991, serving until becoming 90 in 1994.
Even though the Lithuanians buried in the Lithuanian cemetery zone of London are mostly DPs, the zone is now cared for by recent Lithuanian immigrants, making a symbolic connection between the two groups.
Lithuanian Embassy
The Lithuanian embassy in London is the largest Lithuanian embassy anywhere in the world due to the huge Lithuanian community in Britain, with a staff of 45 and 50000 consular activities a year in 2024.
The building, formerly owned by Rolls Royce, was acquired by Lithuania in 2007 and opened after a renovation in 2011. Symbolically, it is named “Lithuanian House” in continuation of the fabled series of Lithuanian hubs in London (see above). With these hubs lost, the Lithuanian Embassy now is essentially the main center for Lithuanian events.
Lithuanian embassy in London
Lithuanian Christian Church of London
This is the only Lithuanian church established anywhere in the world by the third wave of Lithuanian immigrants (post-1990) that managed to acquire its own building. Led by the family of pastors Ditkevičius, it is not a Catholic church. Rather, it follows the Pentecostal tradition within Elim church.
Lithuanian Christian Church in London
Initially, some of the 1990s Lithuanian emigrants to Great Britain began visiting the Elim church. Since 1997, they formed a group centered in the home of Vilma Ditkevičienė, who also helped other Lithuanians (some of them unable to speak English well) to understand the teachings of the church.
Encouraged by the leaders of Elim church, Ditkevičienė launched a Lithuanian church within the Elim community. Initially operating in rented premises, they have their own premises since 2015. This is a former Roman Catholic church building erected ~1950. It was expanded by the Lithuanian Christain Church.
Lithuanian Christian Church in London
Lithuanian Christian Church offers services in Lithuanian which are translated to Russian and English and streamed online. While the majority of church members are Lithuanians, there are also Russian-speakers from Latvia and others.
Like many of the historic Lithuanian churches all over the world, the Lithuanian Christian Church has activities beyond religion itself. It operates “Moksliukas” (official kindergarten in English), a Lithuanian language school. It has a choir of ~20 and a rehabilitation program for addicts.
Moksliukas kindergarten
Beckton area
As the recent wave of Lithuanians migrated to London en-masse, many of them settled in the Beckton area. Sometimes, Beckton used to be called “A Lithuanian district of London” or even Bektoniškės, although it never had a Lithuanian majority. To this day, some Lithuanian businesses exist there but Lithuanians are outnumbered by South Asians and other communities.
Lituanica Lithuanian shop in Beckton
Perkūnas the pole
A totem pole with a name of Lithuania’s pre-Christian god Perkūnas suddenly appeared in 2023 on the cliffs near Folkstone. The mysterious author of the pole remained a mystery, dubbed “Lithuanian Banksy” by the local press. The artwork was liked by the municipality, ensuring its legalization and survival. Some offerings were seen at the pole although it is unclear if they were left by Lithuanians or other neo-pagans.
Perkūnas the Pole in Folkestone
If built by the recent Lithuanian immigrants, it would be the first Lithuanian-ethnicity-inspired monument or building erected by them in Great Britain.
Perkūnas the pole is located near N Downs way pedestrian path with glorious views of the English Channel. The location is approximately 51.101574525712465, 1.223900811856188.
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Peterborough, England
Currently, Peterborough is the most Lithuanian city in the UK among those with 100 000+ inhabitants, with up to 5% of its population Lithuania-born and even larger number ethnic Lithuanians. This community is nearly all recent immigrants, however.
A Lithuanian restaurant in Peterborough
Interior of a Lithuanian restaurant "Kaimas" in Peterborough
While only a few Lithuanians lived in Peterborough before the 1990s (~20 in 1970), their deeds in “loving Lithuania from abroad“ greatly inspired the more active “new” Peterborough Lithuanians. Their „Švyturys“ organization ensured that the home of Steponas Bronius Vaitkevičius (1922-2017) would be marked by a commemorative plaque after his death. S. B. Vaitkevičius used to lead Lithuanian scout camps and write articles for the Lithuanian diaspora press, something quite common among the DP Lithuanians but inspiring to the post-1990 immigrants who left a post-Soviet Lithuania where patriotism had been uprooted. The “new Lithuanians” thus campaigned for Vaitkevičius to be awarded the Lithuanian Diplomatic Star and the Peterborough Civic Awards. The plaque was installed in 2018 and it is located at 325 Eastfield Road.
Steponas Vaitkevičius plaque in Peterborough
Due to the sheer number of Lithuanians, Peterborough has a huge density of Lithuanian businesses, including shops and restaurants. Lithuanian language and symbols are also often used among the select few when something is aimed at the immigrants (e.g. exotic goods shops).
Lithuanian flag is one of the four flags used on the sign of this aimed-at-immigrants shop
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Manchester, England
Manchester's Lithuanian history is one of the richest among the British cities, surpassed in importance only by that of London and the Glasgow area.
Being one of just a few Western European cities where all three main waves of Lithuanian waves arrived (pre-WW1, post-WW2, and post-1990), Manchester hosts numerous Lithuanian heritage sites, including a former Lithuanian club, a Lithuanian cemetery zone with Lithuanian monuments, and churches that served the Lithuanian community.
Lithuanian monuments at Moston Cemetery
Manchester’s Moston (St. Joseph’s) Cemetery includes two Lithuanian monuments, each of them marking an area where Lithuanians are buried together.
The first Lithuanian monument of Moston Cemetery is an art deco-inspired stele that includes an array of Lithuanian symbols, among them the Lithuanian coat of arms and the first line of Lithuanian anthem “Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų”. The entire top of the monument is reminiscent of the Columns of Gediminas symbol, above which there is a cross. As written on the monument, it was built in 1951 commemorating the 7th centenary of Christianity in Lithuania and it is dedicated to Lithuanians resting nearby. There were 54 lots in total bought out by Lithuanians of Manchester.
Lithuanian Cemetery Zone monument in Manchester
After the first cemetery zone was reserved, Lithuanians acquired another one nearby, crowning it with a monument dedicated to Aušros Vartų Motina (Our Lady of the Gate of Down) and including a bas-relief copy of this famous painting in Vilnius. While the monument is smaller, there were more lots here (77). The first Lithuanians were buried here in 1978. This zone was established by the Lithuanian Catholic Society (Lietuvių katalikų bendrija) in Britain.
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument
Both monuments also list those buried there. However, as the monuments were built while these people were mostly still alive, significant numbers of them are not buried there, as they, like many UK Lithuanians, emigrated to the USA.
List of those buried here on the back of the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Monument
Despite there being two Lithuanian zones, they were not enough - other Lithuanians were buried further away in private lots, although many still sought to be as close to the monuments as possible.
A separate Lithuanian-themed gravestone not far away from the Lithuanian zones
The Lithuanians buried here were generally DPs – Lithuanians who fled the Soviet occupation in 1944. 3000 of them ended up in Great Britain ~1950 (with ~800 in the Manchester area). Being especially patriotic and seeing themselves as exiled people rather than emigrants, they tried their best to remain together even after their deaths.
Close-up of the first monument
Manchester Lithuanian Social Club
Manchester Lithuanian Social Club was the heart of the DP Lithuanian activities. A regular 1883-built house was acquired in 1948. The Club had 251 members in 1949 but by 1952 already declined to 171, likely due to the onward migration to the USA or Australia.
The club hosted a bar where Lithuanians would meet as well as other Lithuanian activities. It was renovated in 1987.
As elsewhere in Great Britain, however, the generation of the DP children rapidly drifted away from the Lithuanian activities. As the original refugees were passing away, the club was closed in 1997 and sold in 2014. While some of the recent Lithuanian immigrants at the time would have frequented the club, few did so and even fewer would volunteer for what was a voluntarism-based institution.
Currently, while the building still stands, there are no more Lithuanian signs, such as the large Lithuanian coat of arms that used to be located near the building.
Former Lithuanian Club of Manchester
It was this Club, together with the local chapter of the Lithuanian Community, that sponsored the first Lithuanian monument in the Moston cemetery.
Manchester Lithuanian Catholic community
Together with London and the Glasgow area, Manchester was one of the few places in Great Britain where Lithuanians lived even before World War 1, with the upper estimates reaching 1500. In Manchester, they sought to establish their own St. Casimir Church, which started as a chapel in 1904. However, they were doing this together with Poles; subsequent conflict between Lithuania and Poland “divorced” this parish, with the church first being awarded to Poles and closed ~1934. The church building was demolished afterward.
That first wave of Lithuanian immigrants in Manchester also had their own club but it operated in rented premises; some of them joined the DP Lithuanian Social Club (see above) once it was established.
The DPs were too few in numbers to build their own church, even though they had such plans. Eventually, though, they settled down in the St. Chad Church where they had a Lithuanian Sunday mass. There, in 1984, they put on a painting of Lithuania’s patron saint St. Casimir with a Lithuanian inscription and a plaque celebrating the quincentenary of his passing. This painting is still there, although the modern Lithuanian mass in Manchester is celebrated elsewhere.
Painting of the Lithuanian patron saint Casimir at the St. Chad Church
While Lithuanians in Manchester did not have their own chapel or church at the time, they had a separate organization – Lithuanian Catholic Society (Lietuvių katalikų bendrija). This organization was responsible for erecting the Our Lady of Gate of Dawn monument in Moston cemetery.
While there were too few Lithuanians to ever have a Lithuanian-majority district in Manchester, Barton area next to the swing aqueduct once housed considerable numbers of Lithuanians.
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Scotland
Scotland boasts one of the oldest Lithuanian communities in the West, initially attracted to its coal mines. Before World War 1, it was second only to the United States of America in the number of Lithuanian immigrants. That said, the difference was still huge, with more than 300,000 First Wave Lithuanians in the USA and just some 8550 Lithuanians in Scotland in year 1913.
Bellshill Lithuanians and their Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club
The majority of Lithuanians in Scotland lived in the area around Glasgow, especially in and around Bellshill, working in the coal mines and steel mills (7000 out of 8550 Scotland's Lithuanians in 1913 lived in this area). Lithuanians even had their own names for local towns, e.g. Bellshill would be Balselis and Mossend – Musėnai.
To this day, Bellshill has a Scottish Lithuanian Cultural, Recreational & Social Club, the only such secular Lithuanian club remaining in operation in the entire United Kingdom.
Scottish-Lithuanian Club in Bellshill
The club and its ethnically-themed bar are open most days of the week, attracting people of Lithuanian descent and other locals alike. Its halls include lots of Lithuanian memorabilia, including images of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, symbols of Lithuania, and more.
Club's bar
The club began its life as the Scottish Lithuanian Institute, acquiring its original premises nicknamed “The Shimie” in 1953. That building stood on the corner of Calder Road and Main Street. However, it was demolished in 1978 to widen the intersection. Having received compensation, Lithuanians of Bellshill built the current club building in 1979 (opened 1979 02 10), adopting the current name for their club. In 1983, the building was expanded further, with the new extension opening on August 13th that year.
Sign of the Scottish-Lithuanian Club
The institute and later club combined all the Lithuanian activities of the area, including the Lithuanian St. Cecilia choir, folk dance groups, etc. While the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club included many original miners among its members, the initiative to establish the club came from a new wave of Lithuanian immigrants: the refugees (DPs) who fled the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944. While fewer in numbers (some 400 in total), they saw themselves as exiles rather than emigrants as they wouldn’t have left had Lithuania remained free. As such, they sought to establish a “piece of Lithuania” in Scotland where they would feel at home. Lithuanians were helped by Mr. Bandoni, a local Italian businessman, who donated money for the club’s first building.
Lithuanian memorabilia in the office of the club
While the earlier wave of Lithuanian coal miners had their organizations (e.g. 1898-established St. Casimir Society), these organizations never owned any club or church buildings. Among the reasons for this may be the fact that the local Lithuanian community was hit hard by World War 1 when, in 1917, Scottish-Lithuanian men were given a choice by the British government to either fight for Britain or move back to Lithuania and fight for the hated Russia there. With Lithuania still ruled by the Russian Empire and Russia being an ally of Britain in World War 1, Britain did not see Lithuanians as a separate group; they were seen as Russians by the British government and regarded to be Polish by the neighbors and the press due to long years of Lithuanian language and culture being secondary in status to Polish back in Lithuania itself. So common was the lumping of Lithuanians and Poles together that it is now difficult to count the exact numbers of “true” Lithuanians, although it is believed that in the Bellshill area, there were few if any Poles, with most “Poles” thus having been Lithuanians. Due to discrimination against them because of their Catholic faith and foreign-sounding names, many Lithuanians changed names into English ones according to the "recommendations" of their employers or city authorities.
In 1917 many Lithuanian men were essentially deported to the same Russian Empire they had fled years or decades before; while the Russian Empire collapsed soon afterward and Lithuania became independent in 1918, even those who wanted to return to Scotland were often not allowed to, with their dependent families thus eventually having to leave Scotland as well ~1920. Among the reasons for not permitting the return of Lithuanians was the belief that, in the era of the Russian Civil War, many Lithuanians would have become communists. This was largely an alarmist way of thinking, as Lithuania itself was defending itself from the communist invasion in 1918-1920, although some Lithuanian communists, e.g. Vincas Kapsukas, did indeed live in Scotland at one time (V. Kapsukas later cooperated with the Soviet Russia in their failed war against the Republic of Lithuania; he served as the prime minister of the collaborative Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919-1920).
Even those who continued to live in Scotland often had to leave their close-knit communities due to the mass demolition of historic tenements in cities like Glasgow.
One of the few surviving tenements in Glasgow where First-Wave Lithuanians lived
The Scottish-Lithuanian community was thus decimated in 1917-1920, only reinvigorated by the DPs in the 1950s many of whom chose these far-away mining towns to settle down precisely because of the existence of older Lithuanian communities.
As the generations changed, the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club almost suffered the same fate as Britain’s other Lithuanian clubs, with some members deciding to take over, close down, and sell the club in the 2000s. Unlike in England, however, such a fate was precluded by other members, who successfully disputed it in a court case, continuing the club's operation.
As the decades passed, however, many regular Lithuanian activities ceased, with the club now mostly serving as a place to meet and have fun, albeit it still retains connections to its Lithuanian heritage.
The new hall of the Scottish-Lithuanian Club
The members are from the first and second waves of Lithuanian immigrants to Scotland and/or their Scottish-born children. While after 1990 and, especially, after 2004, a massive new community of Lithuanian immigrants developed in Scotland, they generally didn’t join the club. Among the reasons is the fact that few if any of them live around Bellshill, with Edinburgh becoming the modern-day center of Scottish-Lithuanians.
Lithuanian monuments at Carfin Grotto
A lasting legacy of Bellshill Lithuanian Social Club is the Lithuanian memorials at the Carfin Grotto, the largest such Lithuanian monument complex in Great Britain.
Carfin Grotto is a Christian-themed park, originally developed in the 1920s. It was built by hand by locals, many of them striking coal miners, including Lithuanians. While Lithuanian religious services were being held there in the 1920s already, ethnic monuments were not developed at the time and grew later. Currently, there are five ethnic shrines marked on the entrance plaque: Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Lebanese.
Map of the Carfin Grotto with the ethnic shrines marked
The Lithuanian shrine began as a Lithuanian traditional wooden cross (UNESCO-inscribed art form) erected in 1985, commemorating a anniversary of Lithuanian Catholic activity in Scotland. Built of oak, the cross was designed by Jonas Adomonis from Bradford. It is dedicated “To honour the memory of the late Mons. Joseph Gutauskas and other Lithuanian priests who served the Lithuanian community”. While Lithuanians never had their own church in Scotland, for a long time, there was a regular Lithuanian mass at Bellshill’s Holy Family Catholic Church at the opposite side of road from the Scottish-Lithuanian Social Club.
Lithuanian monuments at the Carfin Grotto in Scotland
In 1987-1988, the Carfin Grotto’s Lithuanian cross was joined by what is named as Scotland’s Lithuanian Community’s Shrine to Mother of God in English, however, the Lithuanian inscription describes it as being dedicated to the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in particular, with a copy of that miraculous painting of Virgin Mary, the original of which hangs in Vilnius, within the small chapel. Priest Andriušis collected some 2000 Pounds for this monument,
Dedication of the shrine
Dedication of the Lithuanian cross
Furthermore, a statue of St. Casimir, Lithuania’s most famous saint, was erected nearby.
The monument complex includes a Lithuanian flag, being the only place in Great Britain where a Lithuanian flag always flies.
One of the nearby benches is dedicated to deceased Lithuanians with the words “Amžiną atilsį” (“Rest in peace”).
Other sites
Scottish-Lithuanian history is researched in several books. There is a collection of Lithuanian-related documents in the South Lanarkshire Heritage Center.
Lithuanian archival documents at the South Lanarkshire Heritage Center
There is also a Baltic Street in Glasgow. While its no-longer-existing tenements once housed many Lithuanians, the street name actually predates them and is of unrelated origin.
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Bradford, England
The textile mill city of Bradford developed as possibly the largest hub of Lithuanian DPs in Britain, with some 1000 of them living here in the early 1950s after having fled Lithuania due to the Soviet occupation and genocide there. In Britain, they first had to live and work at pre-determined locations but then were allowed to freely move, many of them choosing Bradford.
Former textile mills on the Bradford skyline
Bradford Lithuanian Club “Vytis”
The hub of their activities was Lithuanian Club “Vytis” located at 5 Oak Villas. Opened in 1956 as Yorkshire Lithuanian Club, it was renamed „Vytis“ in 1958 after the Lithuanian coat of arms.
The building acquired for the club was a regular house. Then it was transformed to include a hall and a Lithuanian canteen. There was also a Lithuanian language school teaching the DP kids. However, the activities slowly dwindled, with the school having 57 kids in 1957, 23 kids in 1960, and closed for good in 1967.
The building of Lithuanian Club "Vytis"
The reasons for this were faster-than-elsewhere assimilation where discrimination often caused the children to disassociate themselves from their Lithuanian roots despite their parents’ wishes, as well as massive further emigration into the USA, where more than half of Bradford Lithuanians left by some 1960.
Bradford Lithuanian Club was closed and sold ~2002, essentially having served only a single generation of Lithuanians. By that time, there was already a new wave of immigration from Lithuania but the patriotic DPs and the new economic migrants often lacked common ground, with the DPs feeling used by the new immigrants. Currently, the house is used as a family home again.
A book of the now-closed Bradford Lithuanian Club
Bradford Captive Nations Plaque
Campaigning for the freedom of Soviet-occupied Lithuania was a major activity of Lithuanian DPs. They sought to remind regular British people of the plight of Lithuania so they would not forget the Soviet occupation there.
In Bradford, Lithuanians joined their hands with Ukrainians, Latvians, Estonians, Hungarians, and Belarusians of similar fate to unveil a Freedom for Nations plaque in the XV century Cathedral of Bradford. Consisting of all the country flags, the plaque was unveiled by local and Eastern European clergy alike and celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations and the 20th anniversary of the Captive Nations Committee, two of the Central and Eastern European refugee organizations that campaigned for the end of communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe (as the plaque says, “whose countries are denied their freedom”).
Bradford Cathedral where the plaque is located at
Captive Nations Plaque in the Bradford Cathedral
Lithuanian graves in Bradford
Unlike in London, Nottingham, or Manchester, Lithuanians don’t have their own zone in any Bradford cemetery but many of them are buried in the Bowling Cemetery. Lithuanian DP gravestones often incorporate patriotic motifs with quotes like “Ilsėkis ramybėje toli nuo Tėvynės” (“Rest in peace far from homeland”), “In memory of a Lithuanian – tu jį nors atmint ar atminsi kada, tu – jo numylėta Tėvynė” (“Will you at least remember him some time, his beloved Homeland?”), “Išklydome klaikiais tremties keliais ir tik pas Viešpatį Dievą vėl busime kartu” (“We left in horrible paths of exile and only at the God Almighty we will be together”). Despite some of them spending the majority of their lives in Britain, Lithuania remained the homeland for them, unlike for their children's generation.
A second-wave Lithuanian grave in Bradford with a Lithuanian tricolor put around it by the third-wave caretakers
Lithuanian tree in Leeds
Rather few recent Lithuanian immigrants chose Bradford, however, much more of them live in nearby Leeds, which now became a center for Lithuanian activities in this part of England. Lacking their own clubhouse, Lithuanians now rent premises from the Leeds Ukrainian Club for their Saturday school and activities. Not far away from that club in Potternewton Park, Leeds Lithuanians planted a tree to commemorate 100 years of restored Lithuania (1918-2018). The tree is marked by a small plaque where the reason of its planting is explained.
Leeds Lithuanian community near the tree they planted
Plaque at the tree. Photo by Ruta Kisio.
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Nottingham, England
Nottingham has one of the most important Lithuanian hubs in Great Britain known as “Židinys” (literally “Fireplace” but also meaning “Hub”).
In 1966, “Židinys” was established in an acquired ~1830s townhouse by the Lithuanian Marian priests. At the time, it was known as “Jaunimo židinys” (Youth Hub) as the upper floors served as a dormitory for Lithuanian students and orphans. Studying in Nottingham, they would have Lithuanian religious services in Židinys’s first-floor chapel as well as additional Lithuanian language lessons on Sundays.
Lithuanian Center "Židinys" in Nottingham
“Židinys” chapel is dedicated to the Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. Located on the first floor, it includes many Lithuanian symbols and mementos. Many of the building elements pre-date its Lithuanian ownership, with the chapel itself once being a regular room. However, Lithuanians installed stained-glass windows on the second floor. An older wooden plaque outside includes a Lithuanian coat of arms, flag, and the inscription “Lietuvių židinys / Lithuanian Centre / Marian Fathers”.
"Židinys" chapel
In “Židinys”, Lithuanian priests also lived, led by priest Steponas Matulis. From here, they served 13 smaller Lithuanian colonies. They also published “Šaltinis”, a Lithuanian magazine that had its origins in Seinai (Sejny) at 1906, a rebirth in 1926 Marijampolė (a city that is a hub of Marian priests in Lithuania). Closed by the Soviets in 1940, it was reborn in London in 1961 and moved to “Židinys” later, having a circulation of 1200. As the Soviet occupation of Lithuania ended, “Šaltinis” was transferred back to Lithuania in 1993.
"Židinys" original sign
After priest Steponas Matulis died, a larger plaque was unveiled on “Židinys”, saying that it was founded by Rev Steponas Matulis (1918-2003) and the first Mass was served on 1965 09 08. After priest Matulis’s death, no Lithuanian priest lived in “Židinys”, however, the chapel still hosts a regular monthly Lithuanian Mass celebrated by Lithuanian priests from London St. Casimir Lithuanian Parish. Currently, secular/ethnic Lithuanian activities dominate in “Židinys”, including the celebrations for Lithuanian Independence Day, a singing of the Lithuanian anthem on July 6th, and the Lithuanian “Poetry Spring”.
Plaque for the founder of "Židinys"
The Lithuanian community of Nottingham generally consisted of the DPs – Lithuanians who fled the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944. The Marian priests who founded “Židinys” also were DPs, forced to flee by the Soviet atheist regime.
"Židinys" chapel altar
While Nottingham was one of the largest DP “colonies” in Great Britain (together with Bradford, Glasgow area, Manchester, and London), unlike the other ones, it lacked a 1950s Lithuanian club, with plans to acquire such premises never being realized. This likely influenced the Lithuanian priest's decision to select Nottingham for “Židinys”, where it could also double as a local hub for Lithuanian activities, filling an important hole.
“Židinys” is also one of the very few Lithuanian clubs in the United Kingdom that was established by the DPs and then taken over by the post-1990s immigrants, who continue its legacy. Comparable Lithuanian clubs in Manchester, Bradford, Headley, and London have closed down ~2000-2010 instead as the DP generation was passing away.
Lithuanian Cemetery Zone of Nottingham
As the DP Nottingham Lithuanians began passing away, they acquired a large lot in Wilford Hill Cemetery in 1971 so they could be buried together. This lot doesn’t have general Lithuanian monuments, unlike similar lots in Manchester or London, but it has many Lithuanian gravestones with patriotic and exile-themed symbols and inscriptions – e.g. “Lithuanian. Ilsėkis ramybėje toli nuo savo tėviškės” (“Rest in peace far from your homeland”), “Misunderstood you did your best in a new strange alien land”.
Grave in the Lithuanian cemetery zone of Nottingham
The founder of “Židinys” priest Steponas Matulis is also buried here.
Grave in the Lithuanian cemetery zone of Nottingham
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